Saint Sharbel Makhluf

Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Sharbel Makhluf. One of the blessings of the new Roman Missal is that we get to celebrate some of the saints that we knew about but did not have set prayers for. In fact, we can say that Saint Sharbel is a saint for our times, even though he lived two centuries ago. He was raised to the altars of sainthood in the last century. As the Ordo for our Liturgical Year states: "Saint Sharbel Makhluf was born in 1828 in a small mountain village. He became a monk of the Maronite Rite and was ordained a priest in 1859. Devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he spent the last twenty-three years of his life as a hermit. Despite temptations to wealth and comfort, Sharbel taught the value of poverty, self-sacrifice, and prayer by the life he lived. He possessed the gift of performing miracles even during his lifetime. His tomb at the monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, Lebanon, is a place of pilgrimage. He was beatified during the Second Vatican Council in December of 1965 (footnote added). Saint Sharbel was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1977 and he is known as the 'Hermit of Lebanon'"(163). Just think what it would be like to live as a hermit today. It would take great grace and discipline from God. However, it can be done because there are hermits that exist even today. To spend a life of poverty, self-sacrifice, and prayer. We can do that in our lives no matter how busy we are. We need to detach from those material items that may hinder us in our relationship with God and others. We make sacrifices everyday in our respective vocations. We need to make the most of our prayer time. That is why Saint Sharbel Makhluf is a saint for our times because he has given us an example to follow, now we need to trust in his prayers and intercession for us and our journey of faith. Saint Sharbel Makhluf, Pray for Us!!!